


The World Seems to Shine

by Jaibesoindunbiscuit



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 14:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8405167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaibesoindunbiscuit/pseuds/Jaibesoindunbiscuit
Summary: Bucky took a summer job at Lucky’s New York Style Pizza because he needed cash for senior year and he was homesick. That was three months ago. Now all the kids from the prep school down the street are back from vacation, and they're making him think seriously about quitting.Then Wanda Maximoff walks through the front door.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A while back, my friend kthesarcastic asked me to write a one-shot where Bucky was a football jock who was secretly the world’s biggest nerd and Wanda was a preppy cheerleader who was secretly a hipster. So I was like, “Let’s throw a little Romeo-Juliet in there, have Bucky be a public school kid and Wanda go to a fancy private school.” Well, you see, I went to a really small private school, and, yeah. The angst came out, and next thing I knew I had a multi-chap fic mostly written. 
> 
> The usual warning for cursing applies, and I’m just letting you know now that this is probably going to get pretty dark. I’ll add other warnings as the story continues, and I’ll probably up the rating, too.

“Hey, Bucky, can you take over? I need a break.”

“No problem.” Bucky wiped the last of the crumbs off the table and headed over to the counter, setting the tub of dirty dishes down as he went. He groaned as he saw why Clint wanted to leave: there were a bunch of Valley Prep kids in line, tapping away on their iPhones and tucking their Ray-bans into their uniform pockets.

“Come on, man,” Bucky said, but he knew what was coming next.

“You know what the best part about being the boss is?” Clint asked with a grin.

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to deal with this shit, I know.” Bucky watched Clint walk out the back door with a wave and tried very hard not to roll his eyes.

When his dad told him that Lucky’s New York Style Pizza was hiring for the summer, Bucky was sold. He needed a job, Clint was a great guy (even though he didn’t always act like it), and he made damn good pizza. Plus, Clint was actually from New York. Bucky hadn’t been back since his family moved two years ago, and sometimes he got so homesick he felt like he couldn’t breathe. So when he found out he could work in a place that reminded him of home, a place that gave employees free pizza? Yeah, Bucky didn’t even think about it twice.

Maybe if he had, it would have occurred to him that Lucky’s was just a couple of streets over from the Green Valley Preparatory Academy. And maybe it would have occurred to him that he’d have deal with all the prep school kids on a daily basis.

Bucky could always tell which ones they were, even when they weren’t in those ridiculous uniforms. They’d pull daddy’s credit card out of their leather wallets and act like he should be grateful that they even deigned to speak to him. The guys would look around and laugh, like it was the craziest thing in the world to be slumming it in a pizza place. And the girls would order veggie pizza and make a big deal of mopping the grease off with napkins, which offended Bucky to his very core.

If they didn’t want grease, why were they ordering pizza?

But he never said anything (which is why Clint had kept him on after school started up and had given him a raise). Bucky just shrugged it all off and over-charged the especially rude ones. Of which there were many. Like the idiot he was dealing with now.

“No, sir, we don’t have calzones,” Bucky said for the fifth time. The punk smirked when Bucky called him sir. He was gonna get triple-charged.

“Are you sure? I was here last week and there were calzones.” The guys behind him chuckled. Oh. This was their idea of a practical joke. 

Jesus.

Bucky tuned out after that, serving all the little shits on autopilot. He practically groaned with relief when he dealt with the last of them, a girl who wanted cheese pizza without the cheese (Jesus!), and he was just about to go get Clint and tell him it was safe to come out when another group of Green Valley girls walked in. 

So close.

“Come on, Wanda!” one of them yelled, standing in the doorway and letting all the air conditioning out. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he heard the third one say as she came running through the doorway. “I thought I saw a cat.”

Bucky glanced up at that and just… froze.

The other two, the blonde girl and the Asian girl, he was pretty sure he’d seen them here before. But the third one, well… he’d never seen anything quite like her.

She was wearing the Valley Prep uniform, but instead of the usual boat shoes, she was wearing big, chunky boots. Instead of wearing a watch or a tennis bracelet, she was covered in bangles and rings. Instead of having her hair shoulder length and slicked straight, she had it long and curly and flowing around her. And when she made eye contact with him, instead of gazing past him or giving him a disdainful look she smiled right at him.

Jesus.

He barely even registered the first two girls order and sit at a table in the corner. He was entirely focused on the third one as she stepped up to the counter. 

“Hi,” she said, “Is Clint around?”

“Um… he’s out back.” Bucky had to clear his throat before he could actually answer.

“Oh, I see,” she gave him a knowing look that told him she knew damn well that Clint was hiding. “How long have you been working here?”

“I started at the end of May.”

“Wow, a summer hire, and you’re still here? Clint must really like you.”

“He says I’m good with customers.”

She laughed. “Well that makes sense; God knows he isn’t. You know a guy’s not a people person when he names his restaurant after his dog. What’s your name?”

Bucky was waiting for the other shoe to drop. First she smiled at him, now she was actually starting a conversation? There’s no way this pretty rich girl actually wanted to know his name.

“Uh, it’s James. Bucky! It’s Bucky.” Way to go, James Buchanan. Well done. He was usually much better at this.

But she wasn’t even fazed. “Well, nice to meet you, Bucky. I’m Wanda. I come here a lot, so we’ll probably see each other quite a bit.” She smiled again. There was a pause as he desperately floundered for something to say.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Here I am talking your ear off and you just want me to order.” She actually blushed a little as she pushed her hair behind her ear. Which is when he noticed the piercings. 

Jesus Christ and all the saints.

“Um, can I have two slices of cheese pizza with extra cheese? Thanks.” She handed him a Visa gift card. “There should be enough on there to cover it.”

He managed to ring her up and hand her the pizza without embarrassing himself further, and she smiled at him one last time and said, “It was nice meeting you, Bucky,” before she went and sat with her friends.

“Yeah, uh, you, too!”

He watched out of the corner of his eye as she sat down and grabbed a handful of napkins, and he thought maybe he’d found her fatal flaw: she was one the grease-moppers. But then she just set the napkins down in front of her friends and dug right in.

As he watched her devour both gigantic slices of extra-cheese pizza he wondered if this was what love felt like.

He heard the back door swing open and turned as Clint walked in. “Someone was asking for you.”

“Tell them I don’t do refunds,” Clint said as he started backing out again.

“No, she was asking for YOU.” Bucky gestured with his head to the corner table. He watched in surprise as Clint’s face lit up.

“Well, long time no see, kid!” he said as he walked towards Wanda and gave her a hug.

Bucky didn’t hear what they said after that, and when Clint came back around the counter he couldn’t help but ask how he knew Wanda.

“Kid’s been coming here for a long time,” Clint said. “She usually practically lives here over the summer, but apparently her father took them to Europe this year.” Suddenly Clint’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why do you want to know?”

“No reason, I was just curious.” Bucky knew he had failed at sounding casual.

“Look, Barnes,” Clint said slowly, “You’re a hard worker, you’re from Brooklyn, and my dog likes you. That all counts for a lot. But so help me, if you make that kid’s life any harder, I will shoot you. Now go clean the kitchen.”

Bucky knew when he was being told to back off. And he tried to forget about Wanda and focus on his job, he really did.

He couldn’t help but wonder, though: how could a Green Valley Prep girl have a hard life?


End file.
